(NEW YORK) — Season 2 of AMC’s quirky Lodge 49 just got underway last week, and series lead Wyatt Russell is still struggling to describe it — but then again, that’s exactly the point of the critically acclaimed AMC show.
In broad strokes, Russell, the son of Kurt and Goldie Hawn, plays Sean “Dud” Dudley, an eternally optimistic surfer and former pool maintenance worker who stumbles across the titular lodge. The establishment is a forgotten Elks-type club, but beneath its cast of aging attendees wiling away the time with beer and Bunco Night, there’s actually magic within its walls.
The unusual show, which also stars Sonya Cassidy as Dud’s sister Liz, and Brent Jennings as Ernie, the member who takes Dud under his wing, has an extremely unique style. As mundane as it its world is magical, the series is flavored by performances from character actors like Brian Doyle Murray, and for season 2, Paul Giamatti and Cheech Marin.
“Dud and Ernie could be riding a magic carpet over the pyramids in Egypt — I mean that could literally happen in this show. You know, although it probably won’t,” Russell laughs. “And then you can also be…wallowing in someone’s pain over getting fired and what that means to that person, or what being in debt means to Liz.”
He adds, “Those aspects of the show are are just as important as the crazy qualities. But they offset each other in a way that kind of makes it like a really unique experience.”
In season one, Dud becomes the youngest member of the Lodge by, well, decades, but his arrival onto the scene shakes things up for the others.
You can catch up with the first season on Hulu and watch episodes on AMC online. Lodge 49 airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.